You Have To Explore
Read This Story In
When I was offered a job at the University of Alberta Hospital I had no idea what to think of Edmonton. I just looked at the map and I saw where it was.
I'd never heard anything about Edmonton, except from one of my mentors who trained me for a short time in Toronto. He was from here and he said, "You know what, nobody knows how good a place Edmonton is. Yes it is cold but it is sunny, and the people are very nice there." He was born and raised and trained here. Of course if you lived here you'd not say anything otherwise, but he was really right.
We do love it here. However, you have to explore this place a bit. Some of its great qualities are not obvious. For example, I discovered the Weekend Warrior music program through a colleague. The idea is that you sign up for 6 weeks telling them what kind of music you want to play, what kind of instruments you’re willing to play. Then they hook you up with four or five people who want to play a similar style of music. After practicing for 6 weeks you get to play a gig in a bar. The beauty of this is that you don’t have to worry about maintaining a band if you don’t feel like it. Our band has changed line-ups several times but now we play regularly together and it is a great release.
We also have excellent theatre and ballet, opera and classical music scene here. These are qualities you might not learn about a place until you've got to know it. The city is proud of its professional sports teams, such as the Oilers, the Rush, or Kevin Martin’s famous curling team and there are many, mainly indoor, facilities for recreational sports for the public. For example there are old boys’ soccer teams here that go to Las Vegas to play in the “World Games” including a Hungarian team that has won the cup a few times.
This is also a much bigger health care center than the size of the city would indicate. The University of Alberta Hospital I work at, for example, is not just the biggest hospital in the city. It provides health care to Alberta as well as to Manitoba, Saskatchewan and in some cases to patients from B.C. as well.
Edmonton is also a fun and safe place to raise children.
Where Next?
Gabor Gyenes
Dr. Gabor Gyenes is a cardiologist at the University of Alberta Hospital who arrived here via Toronto from Hungary. He plays drums for hard-rock band hardWired and used to play in another band, The Tragically Hip Replacements. Curiously, that band did not play any Tragically Hip.
